The spacecurve function plots a curve or a set of curves in three-dimensional space.

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The first argument is a space curve defined as a list of points or a list of three or more components. An Array or rtable may be used instead of a list.

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When a list of components is provided, the first three components are considered to be the parametric representations of the x, y, and z coordinates. Each of these components is an algebraic expression in a variable t. Additional components can include the parameter range or the numpoints option described below.

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Multiple space curves may be plotted. To do this, provide a set of space curves instead of a single curve as the parameter sc.

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The second argument r is the parameter range, provided in the form t&equals;a..b. This argument is optional if it is provided locally within each space curve.

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The third argument opts is a sequence of one or more options. This can include the numpoints&equals;n option, which specifies the number of points used for drawing the curve. The default value for n is 50. The numpoints option may be provided locally within each space curve.

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Other options allowed in the opts parameter are the same as those accepted by the plot3d command. These are described in the plot3d[option] help page. Note that some options, such as grid, are not applicable.

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The result of a call to spacecurve is a PLOT3D structure which can be rendered by the plotting device. The user may assign a PLOT3D value to a variable, save it in a file, then read it back in for redisplay. See plot3d/structure.

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spacecurve may be defined by with(plots) or with(plots,spacecurve). It can also be used by the name plots[spacecurve].

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